Harvard’s Bush heads west, Haskett goes south
Two of the first three Harvard seniors to enter the transfer portal have made their graduate school decisions in November.
Jadyn Bush will be heading out west to join the University of California, Berkeley, and Rio Haskett will suit up for Hampton University. There is still no reported decision from Danilo Djuricic.
Bush, a 5’11” forward from Federal Way, Wash. who missed all of last year with an injury, will be joining the Golden Bears for two seasons. In her sophomore campaign, Bush started 28 games, averaging 10.9 points per game on 53.1% shooting and 8.5 rebounds per game.
“We will benefit from her veteran leadership, her efficiency around the rim and her tenacity in the paint and on the glass,” said Cal head coach Charmin Smith in her official statement. “In addition, Jadyn possesses the character that fits this Cal family and I know she will be a phenomenal teammate.”
Haskett, a graduate of L.C. Bird High School in Richmond, will head back to the Virginia to play an hour southeast of his family. The 6’3″ guard played in 29 games last season, starting six of those contests. He had career high averages of 17.5 minutes and 6.2 points per game, while adding a personal season best of 25 steals.
Suiting up for the Pirates of the Big South will be a homecoming of sorts for Haskett, whose father, Mario Haskett, Sr., played for the father of present Hampton coach Buck Joyner, Jr.
“We’re family. Me and Buck are like brothers,” the elder Haskett told HBCU Gameday. “The opportunity presented itself, and — to make a long story short — my son said, dad, he’s gonna give me the keys to the car, I’ma drive.”
Two Ivy stars join Porter’s posse
Porter Moser’s Loyola-Chicago Ramblers, just three seasons removed from an improbable run to the Final Four, have added Dartmouth’s Chris Knight and Princeton’s Ryan Schwieger to its 2021-22 roster.
(For those interested, Moser was hired to lead the Ramblers by former Loyola-Chicago and current Penn Athletic Director Grace Calhoun in 2011.)
Knight, named to the All-Ivy second team the previous two seasons, averaged 13.6 points and 5.8 rebounds over his 84-game career in Hanover. After rupturing his left Achilles tendon during the summer, he was the first Ancient Eight senior to enter the transfer portal.
The 6’7″ power forward from Wisconsin was an in-demand prospect, reportedly hearing from over 50 schools before trimming his final list to Dartmouth, Loyola-Chicago, College of Charleston, Richmond, Western Kentucky and UC Santa Barbara in early December.
Knight strongly considered staying with the Big Green, but the school would not allow him to play as a graduate student, according to Valley News. As a result, he could only compete at Dartmouth next year if he stepped away from his undergraduate studies for 10 months this academic year. Instead, he will pursue an MBA in the Windy City.
“The reason why Loyola stood out was because they have a culture I can see myself fitting into,” Knight told the Valley News. “There’s no real stars where someone feels like they’re better than the other players. They all play really hard and together, so it kind of reminded me of Dartmouth. I also appreciated how hard they recruited me.”
Schwieger may not have posted Knight’s numbers during his three years at Princeton, but the 6’7″ sharp shooting wing was one of the most feared scorers over the last two Ivy campaigns.
After an inconsistent first year and a half in Old Nassau, Schwieger came on strong with seven double-digit games in the winter of 2019. Late in the season against Cornell, Columbia and Dartmouth, he poured in 69 points on 65% overall shooting and 50% from three.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, their strongest outside weapon suffered a concussion in practice and missed the last three games. With a healthy Schweiger, Princeton might have reversed the 83-77 loss to eventual champion Yale in the 2019 Ivy League Tournament semifinal.
Schwieger returned to the lineup at the beginning of the 2019-20 season, but an injury six minutes into the opener caused him to miss the next four games. He eventually regained his touch in time for league play, helping the Tigers sweep Penn with 43 combined points on 59% shooting. For the year, he ended the season with 10.7 points per game on 46% shooting from the field, 37% from three and 88% from the line.
Yale’s loss is Notre Dame’s gain
Just a few days into the new year, Yale’s Paul Atkinson announced his decision to transfer to Notre Dame for the 2021-22 season.
Like Chris Knight, the 2020 Ivy League Co-Player of the Year hoped to stay at Yale for one more season, but his desire to finish his degree this spring and the league’s rule against allowing graduate students to play forced him to take his skills elsewhere. Atkinson, arguably the premier Ivy hoopster in the transfer portal, was ended up being courted by the Irish, Iowa, Ohio State, NC State, Miami, Kansas, Cincinnati, Texas, Oklahoma State and Georgia.
After graduating this spring with a degree in Economics, the talented 6’10”, 200-pound forward will move from his home in South Florida to grad school in South Bend to help battle the best in the ACC. “They have a lot of good guards,” Atkinson told NDInsider on Sunday night. “They need someone to come in and try and fill (the big man) spot. I’m hoping to be that guy.”
Due to a season-ending injury to Jordan Bruner, Atkinson found his way into the Yale starting lineup as a first-year. He started 30 of 31 games that year, averaging 9.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. His 69.2% success from the field led the Ancient Eight and was a school record. He eclipsed that mark in his sophomore campaign, when he shot a league-best 69.7%. Despite coming off the bench for the 2019 Ivy co-champs, he had 9.1 points and five boards per contest.
In his award-winning 2019-20 season, Atkinson started 29 of 30 games with 17.6 points and 7.3 rebounds a game for the undisputed regular-season champions. While his 63% shooting was only the fourth-best in school history, he again led the Ivy League in that category and was seventh-best in the nation.
Things may not have played out as he expected 10 months ago, but the former Yale big man is looking to the future. “I’m excited,” Atkinson told NDInsider. “It might be more challenging day in and day out than the Ivy League, but I’m ready to accept that. I’m prepared for it.”